Eradicating Gender Discrimination in the U.S. Workforce. Amanda Beare Professor Jordi Comas May 11, 2016

Transcription

1 Eradicating Gender Discrimination in the U.S. Workforce Amanda Beare Professor Jordi Comas May 11, 2016

2 Gender Discrimination in the U.S. Workforce Executive Summary More than fifty years after the groundbreaking Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other gender focused legislation made discrimination illegal, gender inequality is still a widespread and pervasive problem within society. This is nominally reflected in the gendered pay gap, in which the earnings ratio for women is 79 percent of what men with comparable skills make. Not only is there a disparity in compensation just on the basis of gender, but also on the intersectionality of race, national origin, gender, and socioeconomic status. Another element of gender discrimination in the workplace can be attributed to the lack of paid parental leave policies in the United States. The United States is the only high-income country in the world that has no mandated paid parental leave policy, which further engenders racial, gendered, and class inequities in our nation. Finally, sexual harassment and assault perpetrated against women is a deplorable result of gender inequality in the workplace. In order to illuminate these issues to educate business managers and society as a whole, this paper will discuss how organizations can minimize unconscious gender bias in their business practices by focusing on the gender pay gap, paid parental leave, and sexual harassment. Not only should additional legislation be created to eradicate gender discrimination, but a rethinking of socially constructed gender roles is necessary to overhauling a patriarchal culture.

3 Gender Pay Gap In 2014, women working full time in the United States were paid 79 cents for every dollar that men were paid, representing a gap of 21 percent. Although the gender wage gap has narrowed over the last forty years, this has been predominantly attributed to a greater access to higher education and workforce participation amongst women in addition to men s wages plateauing. The pay gap refers to the difference in men and women s median earnings, and is typically reported as either the earnings ratio between men and women or as an actual pay gap. In 2014, the earnings ratio was 79 percent and the pay gap was 21 percent. The median earnings for women are lower than the earnings for men in nearly all professions, regardless if they work in occupations that are predominantly female, predominantly male, or occupations that have a equitable proportion of females to males. The Institute for Women s Policy Research compiled data from 119 different full-time occupations for a report that was released in 2015 regarding the gender wage gap. The report found that the gender earnings ratio ranged from 52.5 percent (women at the median making half as men in securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents) to percent (women making more than men in positions as wholesale and retail buyers) (Hegewisch & DuMontheir, 1). The study found that there were four occupations in which women s earnings were slightly higher than men s earnings; however, 108 occupations demonstrated that women s median earnings were 95 percent or lower than men s. Occupations that tended to be the highest paid had the largest discrepancies in wages while the lowest paid occupations had the smallest. Not only is there a wage gap within an occupation, but the research also reflected wage gaps between occupations. Male-dominated occupations usually paid more than female-

4 dominated occupations at comparable skill levels. For example, women who are elementary and middle school teachers, the most female-dominated occupation that requires at least a bachelor s degree, earn $957 per week (compared to $1,077 for men in the field). Men who are software developers, one of the most male-dominated occupations that requires at least a bachelor s degree, earn $1,751 per week on average (compared to $1,415 for women in the field). It is no surprise that women earn less than men in all of the most common occupations for men; however, women also earn less than men in all but two of the most common occupations for women. The 20 most common occupations for workingwomen employ around 41.8 percent of women and 15.3 percent of men (Hegewisch & DuMontheir, 2). The top occupations, which include elementary and middle teachers, registered nurses, and secretaries and administrative assistants, employ 13.4 percent of women. Median full-time weekly earnings for women within these 20 occupations range from $405 for cashiers to $1,213 for managers. Men earned more than women in all of these occupations except for office clerks, and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. The largest wage gap was for financial managers, with a gender earnings ratio of 65.2 percent, which represents a wage difference of $602 between men and women (Hegewisch & DuMontheir, 2). Furthermore, the study indicated that women experience poverty-level wages more frequently than men. Out of all occupations surveyed, more than 6.5 million women hold jobs that have median earnings that are lower than 100 percent of the national poverty level for a family of four ($462 a week). This is significantly higher than just the 1.7 million men who reported to hold occupations that earned below the poverty threshold (Hegewisch & DuMontheir, 5). Five of the most common occupations for women, compared to just one occupation for

5 men, had median weekly earnings below the poverty level. These workers are all considered the working poor, meaning their earnings are too high to quality for public assistance, yet too low to acquire economic security. When examining the gender wage gap, the intersectionality of both gender and race needs to be taken into consideration as women from minority racial groups are even more excluded from equitable pay. The Institute for Women s Policy Research found that the gender wage gap differs by both race and ethnicity for all occupations. First, Hispanic women have the lowest median earnings of $566 per week, which represents 56.3 percent of the median weekly earnings of white men. Black women were found to have median weekly earnings of $615, or 61.2 percent of the weekly earnings of white men. Asian men and women have the highest median weekly earnings of $1,129 and $877 respectively (Hegewisch & DuMontheir, 5). Many critics will attribute discrepancies in pay due to women s choices in seeking out college majors and jobs that traditionally pay less than other professions. However, after taking college major, occupation, economic sector, hours worked, GPA, type of undergraduate institution into consideration amongst a number of other variables, a report called Graduating to Pay a Gap, still discovered that a 7 percent difference in earnings between men and women college graduates one year after matriculation was unexplained. Furthermore, the report found a 12 percent unexplained difference between the earnings of females and males ten years after college graduation (Hill, 8). The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was passed by the John F. Kennedy administration as a part of his New Frontier Program. The act requires employers to give both male and female employees equal pay for equal work. Specifically, the bill addresses that gender

6 discrimination depresses wages and living standards for certain employees, inhibits the maximum utilization of labor resources, and obstructs the free flow of goods in commerce, and represents unfair competition. A year later, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed, which prohibits all forms discrimination in employment. This is encapsulates discrimination that may occur in the hiring, firing, promoting processes as well as in wage allocation on the basis of race, sex, religion, or nationality. Furthermore, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, was passed by the Obama administration and clarifies that pay discrimination occurs when a pay decision is made, when an employee is subject to that decision, or at any time an employee is injured by it; employees have 180 days from any of those instances to file a claim. Even though these legal protections have bolstered the battle against gender discrimination, additional legislation is required to obtain greater pay protections and incentives. Since the Equal Pay Act was passed, countless bills have been presented in order to strengthen incentives preventing sex discrimination, eliminate loopholes, and prohibit retaliation against employees who inquire about wage practices or disclose their own personal wages. For example, the House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Fairness Act with a bipartisan vote in Despite support from the House, the President, and the American public, the Senate defeated the Paycheck Fairness act in a procedural vote of 58 to 41 in November During the 113 th Congress, the Senate voted to fully debate the Paycheck Fairness Act for the first time; however, the bill did not obtain the required sixty votes to move forward to an up-or-down vote. In 2014, President Obama signed two executive orders regarding pay equity. The first order bans federal contractors from attacking employees who discuss their salaries and the second order instructs the U.S. Department of Labor to

7 collect wage data from federal contractors regarding race, sex, and national origin of employees to identify patterns of discrimination. Despite gridlock at the federal level, states have made significant legislative progress to protect the interests of female workers in ensuring equal work and pay. For example, almost every state has implemented a law that forbids employers from paying employees differently just based on gender. Thirty-seven states prohibit retaliation or further discrimination if an individual is involved in an investigation or hearing regarding equal pay law. Additionally, twenty-five states have legislated provisions that ban employers from raising excuses to a claim, such as being complicit in paying employees at a lower rate or using systems that engender discrimination when an alternative, viable system exists. Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina currently are the only states that have no pay equity regulations. Nine states, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington, have ambiguous rhetoric that enables employers to continue to pay women less than their male peers. Even though states with no protection are at the bottom in state rankings of the earnings ratio, states with more stringent laws do not necessarily rank at the top. Stronger pay equity laws are the first step toward closing the pay gap; however, addressing issues such as paid leave and gender stereotyping is necessary in better achieving pay equity. In addition to current legislation, a greater emphasis on transparency should be a policy change in regard to equal compensation between the genders. A survey by the Institute for Women s Policy Research found that half of employees worked in environments where conversations about salaries were either explicitly prohibited or were discouraged by managers (Institute for Women s Policy Research, 2011). In the private

8 sector, 61 percent of employees are either discouraged or formally prohibited from discussing wages, while only 14 percent of public sector workers had similar experiences. It is evident that there is a greater transparency in the public center, which could be an indirect result of having increased gender pay equity in the federal government. Federal employees have access to information that allows them to compare salaries with others at their grade level and geographical location. One solution to engendering greater transparency in the private sector would be to require employers to utilize audits to track pay disparities. For example, Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, signed the Women s Economic Security Act (WESA) in 2014, a nine-part law that seeks to provide women more equal opportunities in the workplace. Specifically, the legislation amends the Minnesota Human Rights Act that mandates that certain state contractors periodically acquire a certificate from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights regarding compliance with equal gender pay laws. By having this evaluation method in place, Minnesota can better identify pay differences and compare jobs on dimensions such as the complexity of the issues encountered, the depth and breadth of knowledge needed, the nature of interpersonal contacts required, and the physical working conditions. Minnesota employers thus have the ability to compare female-dominated jobs with maledominated jobs that require the same level of knowledge and expertise to determine if there is a divergence in pay. If the findings demonstrate that women are consistently compensated less than men that have comparable skills, the law requires a wage or salary increase. Twelve states have laws involving transparency policies and one state just recently added an anonymous tip line to report gender discrimination in the workplace. In addition to having all states and the federal government pass laws that foster gender

9 equality through equal pay, there should be other ways, such as transparency policies, that can bridge the gap. Paid Parental Leave Parental leave encompasses maternity and/or paternity leave to care for a new born infant, adopted child, or a child within a new legal guardianship. Parental leave provides job protection for workers and has differing provisions regarding compensation throughout the world. According to the International Labor Organization, the U.S. and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries in the world that do not ensure any paid maternity leave. Over the past fifty years, the gender makeup of the American workforce has dramatically changed. Today, women constitute nearly one-half of the entire U.S. workforce, while women are principal breadwinners or co-breadwinners of two-thirds of families with children. Additionally, the number of children with single working parents has increased over time. As a result of this shift in demographics of the workplace, about 63 percent of children live in a family where all parents work (The Council of Economic Advisors, 2014). Men and women alike are facing new challenges in the workplace when balancing childcare, work, and other responsibilities. Parental leave policies are designed in order to bring about substantial health and economic benefits to workers, employers, and the economy. Experts, advocates, and policymakers have concluded that federal paid parental leave would enable the United States to catch up to other industrialized nations and will confront the realities of today s dynamic workforce. According to a report provided by Jody Heymann and Kristen McNeill, 96 percent of 186 examined countries provide some form of payment to women during

10 maternity leave (Gault et al., 2). Currently, the United States is the only high-income country and one of just two industrialized countries that have no legislation requiring paid leave for mothers. Nearly every member of the European Union provides fourteen weeks of job guaranteed paid maternity leave at a minimum, in which employees receive at least two-thirds of their normal salaries (International Labor Organization, 2010). Further, the report found that eighty-one countries provided paid leave to new fathers through paternity leave, parental leave that could be exercised by either parent, or through a combination of the two possibilities. Sixty of these countries compensate the father at least three-fourths of their salaries for taking part of the leave; however, only thirty-seven countries provide the father with the option of taking the full fourteen paid weeks off (Gault et al., 2). America s current parental leave policy, The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 is deeply limited in providing benefits to employees. This federal mandate was passed by President Bill Clinton and allows eligible employees to take a 12 week job-protected leave for a serious health concern that inhibits the individual from effectively performing the essential duties of his or her job. This includes caring for newborns, fostered or adopted children, or immediate family members with a dire health affliction. In order to be considered eligible under FMLA, an employee is required to have worked for the company over the past twelve months, worked at least 1,250 hours, and be employed at a company with over fifty employees within seventy-five miles. Moreover, the policy has a very narrow definition of family. For example, same-sex partners cannot use it to care for one another and people cannot use it to care for a grandparent. Further, the growing percentage of employees who work part time jobs are

11 often ineligible as they do not meet the twenty-five hour a week requirement. Due to these inflexible requirements, more than forty percent of U.S. workers and over 80 percent of new mothers do not qualify for the 12 weeks of leave to care for a new child. Moreover, FMLA does not provide any compensation for the mothers who do qualify for the leave. As a result, many employees cannot afford to take time off of work given the substantial loss of income that the leave would necessitate. On the state level, numerous U.S. states have mandated policies that provide workers with families with benefits that are more comprehensive than what is offered in FMLA. California became the first state in 2004 to institute a paid-family-leave policy. This policy allows most working Californians to receive fifty-five percent of their regular salary for a maximum of six weeks (Gillett, 2015). Since then, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico have implemented similar policies in which employees receive partial wage replacements during parental leave. In 2009, New Jersey established the Family Leave Insurance that mirrored California s six weeks of partial compensation policy. In 2014, the program was extended to match two-thirds of an employee s weekly pay up to $595 per week (Gault et al., 5). If an employee is eligible for FMLA, leave is taken concurrently; however, those that are not eligible for FMLA do not have a guarantee of re-employment at the end of the leave period. In 2013, Rhode Island s Temporary Caregiver Insurance Program gives qualified claimants up to four weeks of wage replacement to care for a newborn child or a newly adopted child. Most recently, New York signed into law a family leave program that will be implemented in 2021 and will compensate workers 67 percent of their average wage for up to twelve weeks (Rubin, 2016). Although only several states currently have mandated partial payment programs,

12 other states have passed leave laws that offer more coverage than what is provided through FMLA. All of these programs are financed by small payroll deductions from employees wages. Despite slight progress on the state level, the lack of a comprehensive paid parental leave policy at the federal level abets gender inequality at the national level in the United States. In the domestic responsibility culture of the United States, child-care is disproportionately bestowed upon women and the dearth of appropriate legislation to assist women in navigating motherhood and work engenders a myriad of challenges. For example, as the responsibilities are usually conferred onto women, the issue of pay inequity is exacerbated as many women are temporarily or permanently barred from the workplace. Research demonstrates that paid maternity leave can positively influence women s wages and employment in the long run. Due to California s partial pay policy, new mother s weekly hours and salaries increased by almost ten percent. Women who capitalized on New Jersey s policy were more likely to be working nine to twelve months after their child was born than women who did not take advantage of the program. Across the world, paid maternal leave has increased the likelihood of a new mother returning to her employer. Paid paternity leave has also been shown to improve gender equity in both the workplace and at home. One study showed that fathers who take one to two weeks off after the birth of their child are often more involved in the newborn s life nine months later (Gault et al., 8). Paternity leave alleviates the pressure from women in being the sole caretakers and fosters stronger relationships between father and child. Additionally, research on current paid leave programs suggests that there are negligible costs to employers when providing partial or full pay programs to new parents. According to a

13 report released from the President s Council of Economic Advisers, over ninety percent of employers affected by California s partial payment program reported positive or no effect on profitability, turnover, or morale. In fact, most research indicates that paid parental leave practices benefit employers by increasing their ability to retain talent, lowering employee turnover, and reducing the loss of human capital. In a survey of two hundred human resource managers, two-thirds of the individuals noted that familysupportive policies were the most important factor in hiring and retaining talented employees. Paid parental leave as an incentive has been proven to increase the probability that women will resume their careers after childbirth, which results in significant cost savings for firms. Twenty-seven case studies illuminated that the median replacement cost of an employee was a staggering twenty-one percent total of the employee s annual salary (Gault et al., 8). In addition to the benefits that paid parental leave provides U.S. businesses, such practices could contribute to economic growth through greater workforce participation, increased fertility rates, and a reduction in spending on public assistance. By including a greater number of employees in the labor force, growth is positively affected since there are increasing inputs to production. More labor, men or women, usually contributes to higher levels of output just as long as the capital stock can expand to support it. Specifically, by including more women through paid maternal leave, economists have found that more equitable participation rates between men and women would substantially augment GDP. In the United States, GDP could be increased by 5 percent (Gault et al., 13). A study of OECD countries found that every one week increase in available family leave is associated with an increase in aggregate labor productivity and

14 multifactor productivity (Bassanini and Venn, 2008). Due to these findings, it is estimated that the United States would experience an increase in multifactor productivity of about 1.1 percent over time if paid maternity leave was mandated at the average OECD threshold of fifteen weeks (Bassanini and Venn, 2008). Further, given the changing demographics of the American workforce due to the current and imminent retirement of the baby boomer generation, a greater female participation rate would engender growth by limiting the effects of a shrinking workforce. Finally, paid family leave would mitigate government spending on public assistance programs that often support families with newborn children. According to a report released by the US Department of Labor in 2012, approximately fifteen percent of employees who were not compensated while on leave turned to public assistance for help. Another study by Houser and Vartanian found that paid parental leave reduces the likelihood of receiving public aid during the year of the child s birth, and that employees who obtained paid family leave were thirty-nine percent less likely to require assistance than women who received no leave. For new mothers that received paid leave, they reported spending $413 less in public assistance than mothers who did not receive paid leave. Despite explicit research pointing to how the lack of paid parental leave contributes to gender inequality and the wage gap, in addition to the countless benefits for mothers, fathers, newborns, businesses, and the economy, companies are still reluctant to adopt paid leave programs. This is in large due firms myopic focus on costsaving measures, as opposed to taking long-run effects into consideration. Thus, the government should have a greater role in disseminating information about management practices such as paid parental leave that benefit both employees and businesses.

15 Sexual Harassment and Assault Another understudied facet of gender inequality in the workplace is the frequent occurrence of sexual harassment and assault perpetrated against women. According the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it is against the law to harass a person based on that individual s sex. The report defines harassment as sexual harassment or unwelcome advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Harassment is not limited to a sexual nature, but can also include any and all offensive remarks regarding a person s sex. If teasing or offhand comments become so frequent that they engender a hostile or offensive work environment or result in an adverse employment decision, the harassment is deemed illegal. Although sexual harassment is a type of gender discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the act does not specifically use the words sexual harassment. Instead, courts have ruled that sexual harassment is a form of illegal sex discrimination and states have implemented more stringent harassment laws. Under Title VII there are two recognized types of recognized sexual harassment, quid pro quo sexual harassment and hostile work environment. Quid pro quo translates to something for something, meaning that sexual harassment occurs when a person in authority requires subordinates to tolerate or endure sexual harassment as the basis for employment decisions affecting the individual. Most frequently, this involves a supervisor offering a promotion in exchange for sex. The second form of harassment, hostile work environment, occurs when an individual has been subjected to unwelcome, pervasive harassment that was based on sex. Further, the employer knew or should have known of the harassment. In a sexual harassment case, the alleged victim must prove that

16 the conduct was hostile, abusive, frequent, perpetrated by a co-worker or supervisor, amongst a variety of other elements. Employers are held liable for harassment committed by supervisory personnel and for co-workers harassment if they knew of the conduct and failed to take immediate action. While working, U.S. employees have experienced 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults from 1993 to 1999 (Duhart, 2001). Of these, eighty percent of rapes and assaults were perpetrated against women. More recently, a survey found that one in every three women between the ages of eighteen to thirty-four had been sexually harassed at work. Between 2005 and 2009, sexual violence constituted 2.3 percent of all nonfatal violence in the workplace (Harrell, 2011). In traditionally male-dominated professions, such as the military, females experience sexual violence at an increased rate. In 2010, there were 3,158 military sexual assaults reported, one-fourth of which occurred during deployment in a combat zone (U.S. Department of Defense, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, 2011). Further, the Department of Defense estimated that only 13.5 percent of sexual assault cases are actually reported, which is a testament to the gross and pervasive sexual discrimination in the workforce. Survivors of sexual assault often do not have allies in male-dominated and even female-dominated professions to feel comfortable reporting their perpetrators. In female-dominated professions where management is predominately male such as in education, harassment is commonly found and gone unreported. Sexual harassment and abuse engenders serious emotional trauma that interferes with a person s daily life. It is estimated that a survivor of sexual assault experiences Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in nearly fifty to ninety-five percent of all cases. In one particular study, fifty percent of rape survivors were demanded to quit or lost their

17 jobs in the year following the assault due to changed behavior. According to the National Council for Research on Women, women are nine times more inclined than men to quit their jobs, five times more likely to transfer, and three times more likely to lose their jobs due to sexual harassment or assault in the workplace (The Webb Report, 1994). In order to discourage sexual harassment and assault, the EEOC advocates that employers be open about expressing strong disapproval, developing appropriate sanctions, informing employees of their right to raise, how to raise, the issue of harassment of Title VII. Management should have a detailed policy on sexual harassment and should set the issue as a high priority for the company to ensure the safety and well being of all employees. Conclusion In addition to necessary legislation and policy reforms regarding equal pay, paid maternal leave, sexual assault and harassment, there must a systemic overhaul of our patriarchal society that perpetuates gender inequality. According to the Harvard Business School study, Men as Cultural Ideals: How Culture Shapes Gender Stereotypes, unique characteristics of men and women comprise the contents of differing gendered stereotypes. Men are stereotyped as independent, agentic, and goal oriented, whereas women are stereotyped as interdependent, communal, and oriented toward others (Eagly & Steggen, 1984; Spence & Helmreich, 1978). These socially constructed stereotypes in turn affect outcomes such as hiring and promotion, job performance evaluation, compensation, scholastic performance, and sexual harassment. Stereotypes and their social outcomes are widespread and pervasive, and are endorsed by both men and women alike. Cultures that emphasize certain attributes will tend to place the gender

18 that stereotypically conveys those qualities at a higher status. For example, the United States values autonomy, self-reliance, and personal goals, and thus views men, as having the most culturally valued traits. Gender stereotypes and roles are so deeply rooted within a misogynistic culture that they permeate most social interactions, including those of children. Barrie Thorne conceptualizes gender as a system of relationships and that interactions, also known as borderwork, serve to enhance gender boundaries. Her research on elementary school children concluded that boys are inclined to control more space and to invade girls space more. Additionally, she speaks on pollution rituals and how young girls are considered by boys to be adulterated by having germs or cooties. She then draws a parallel to the adult workforce, which is traditionally male-dominated, in highlighting borderwork. Specifically, Thorne points to sexual harassment as a pollution ritual that occurs during adulthood. Activities such as borderwork and pollution rituals bolster group boundaries and help maintain group identities from elementary playgrounds to the workplace. A dismantling of the patriarchal system begins initially during the development of males and females, and how they are socialized to view themselves and each other. Parents can avoid overt and implicit sexism by being conscious of gender bias when raising children. Gender neutral toys and activities as well the language parents use to speak to girls versus boys can help to remove implicit sexism. Although mandating policies and legislation will promote gender equality, removing gender biases from our society is at the crux of eradicating sexism.

19 Works Cited The Council of Economic Advisers, The Economics of Paid and Unpaid Leave. Executive Office of the President of the United States, Cuddy, Amy J.C., Susan Crotty, Jihye Chong, and Michael I. Norton. "Men as Cultural Ideals: How Culture Shapes Gender Stereotypes." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No , May Gillett, Rachel. "The Science behind Why Paid Parental Leave Is Good for Everyone." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 05 Aug Gault, Barbara, Heidi Hartmann, Ariane Hegewisch, Jessica Milli, and Lindsey Reichlin. "Paid Parental Leave in the United States." Institute For Women's Policy Research, Web. Hill, Catherine. "The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (Spring 2016)." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881, Web. 8 May Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. Cambridge UP, Print. Lucas-Stannard, Paige. "Gender Neutral Parenting: 5 Ways To Avoid Implicit Sexism." Everyday Feminism. N.p., 28 Nov Web. 9 May McGurk, Harry. Childhood Social Development: Contemporary Perspectives. Hove, UK: L. Erlbaum Associates, Print. Rubin, Rita. "U.S. Dead Last Among Developed Countries When It Comes To Paid Maternity Leave." Forbes, 6 Apr Thorne, Barrie. Gender Play: Girls and Boys In School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, Print.

20 Vagianos, Alanna. "1 In 3 Women Has Been Sexually Harassed At Work, According To Survey." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Web. 10 May "Pay Equity & Discrimination." Institute For Women's Policy Research,Web. 11 May "Sexual Harassment." Equal Employment Opportunity Council. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Web. 10 May "Sexual Violence & The Workplace." (2009): National Sexual Violence Research Center. Web.